Just in time for Century Crunch: new FlyAway service between Santa Monica and LAX

Century Boulevard, one of the main access roads to the airport, will be closed to traffic at the Aviation Boulevard intersection beginning 9 p.m. Friday, July 25, through 6 a.m. Monday, July 28 for the demolition of Century Boulevard Bridge. The old railroad bridge needs to be demolished to allow for the future construction of a new Century/Aviation light rail station.

Plan ahead to avoid traffic congestion in the LAX area during the closure. One transit option is to take FlyAway, which will be operating new bus service between Santa Monica and LAX starting tomorrow, Tuesday, July 15. The FlyAway bus stop will be located in front of the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, 1875 Main Street, just north of Pico Boulevard. Bus service will operate hourly from 5:45 a.m. to 11:45 p.m. daily and one-way fare is $8.

Keep reading for the press release from Los Angeles World Airports:

Los Angeles and Santa Monica officials came together this morning to celebrate the launch of a new, low-cost FlyAway® bus service providing nonstop service between Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and the City of Santa Monica. The new FlyAway® bus service begins tomorrow, Tuesday, July 15, and will operate hourly from 5:45 a.m. to 11:45 p.m. daily, including weekends and holidays, departing both locations 15 minutes before each hour. One-way fare is $8, with children five years old and under free.

The FlyAway® bus stop will be located in front of the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, 1875 Main Street, just north of Pico Boulevard, and three blocks from Santa Monica State Beach, one of the city’s most popular tourist and recreational attractions. Passenger drop off and pick up at LAX will be in front of each airline terminal.

“The new FlyAway® bus service will give Westsiders a convenient and cost-effective way to get to and from LAX,” said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. “And the new FlyAway® service at Santa Monica begins at an important time, when reducing the number of vehicles traveling to and from LAX will be absolutely necessary in order to cope with traffic congestion near the airport expected during ‘Century Crunch.’”

As chair of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) board, the mayor encouraged all passengers to use shared-ride public transportation to and from LAX during the 57-hour closure of Century Boulevard in both directions at the intersection of Century and Aviation boulevards from 9 p.m. Friday, July 25 through 6 a.m. Monday, July 28. One-third of all vehicles entering the LAX Central Terminal Area use Century Boulevard.

“Santa Monica is thrilled to welcome FlyAway® service to our city,” said Santa Monica Mayor Pam O’Connor. “This new service will give not only our residents an affordable and convenient way to get to LAX, but it will also make it easy for tourists to come to Santa Monica and then enjoy our city by walking, riding a bike, or using our Big Blue Bus to explore.”

“I’m thrilled to see FlyAway® expand to Santa Monica because it means more cars off the road on the Westside,” said Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Bonin, Metro board member and chair of the City Council’s Transportation Committee. “Los Angeles is making progress every day toward improving the way we get to and from LAX, which is a huge win for our neighborhoods.”

Based on the percentage of LAX passengers originating from the Santa Monica area, LAX officials anticipate first-year ridership from this location to exceed 100,000 passengers.

“The FlyAway® service has great potential for successfully encouraging air travelers to use this economical and convenient bus as an alternative to driving private vehicles to and from LAX,” said Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) Executive Director Gina Marie Lindsey. “We also believe the service will be attractive to business travelers and tourists visiting the Santa Monica area for business or leisure.”

FlyAway® bus service at Santa Monica joins four other routes already in operation at Union Station, Van Nuys, Westwood, and the Metro station at Expo/La Brea. A sixth route, in Hollywood, is scheduled to begin in September.

services the weekend of “Century Crunch,” as traffic conditions in and around the airport are expected to become severe. To find public transit options to and from LAX, use Metro Trip Planner at www.metro.net.

The construction of the aerial Century/Aviation Station will take approximately 16 months. After the demolition is over, there will be only three lanes in each direction on Century plus the northbound left turn lane toward Aviation.

Why the 217 bus stops at Howard Hughes Center and does not continute to LAX Transit Center is either a mystery or a joke. Fly Away is good, but even still, why have not all options been exhausted. The 102 is poorly represented as well. Again, the Fly Away is good, but when metro promotes it as one of the only options, it really stinks. Who needs to be written to get the 217 to go to LAX? It ends in Hollywood, yet goes to Howard Hughes Center? Why?. The demand must be there (hollywood to LAX), especially if it were promoted. No one thinks they can even reach Hollywood on 1 bus from LAX, which is what the 217 would do if it went two miles (if that) further south. The 220 and 439 were cut, but with a much more expensive alternative in comparison to the 439 base freeway fare, and the 217s base fare. Call me too logical, but its an awful logistic blunder. EXTEND THE 217 UNTIL THE CRENSHAW LINE OPENS!!!

I’ve done the BBB #3 a few times. It’s convenient, but all the stops and traffic make for a long ride down the always-congested Lincoln Blvd. An airport shuttle is totally worth the added cost for me to get there faster, and 8 bucks isn’t high at all.

The Santa Monica FlyAway is a good thing! We need as many transportation options as possible to the LAX airport. Consequently, it is best to promote ALL public transit systems with route/times SIGNAGE at the blue LAX Shuttles standing area. I have lived in Los Angeles for over 30 years and I forgot that there are ‘night owl’ bus routes, like the Metro #40. It circulates the LAX Transit Depot/ Parking Lot ‘C’ after midnight 1x per hour until 4am. I am mentioning this because two weeks ago, my delayed-flight arrived in LAX at 12midnight, instead of 10pm. I had planned to use public transit ( LAX Shuttle G to the Greenline), but when my flight arrived late, I couldn’t remember another route or that ‘night owl’ buses existed. Overall, it would be good to have route/times signage at the blue LAX Shuttles standing area. Thanks.

There is all this information on how to get the FyAway to and from Santa Monica. How about the riders that have to go other routes like taking the 117 to and from the LAX Transit Center to get their other connections, like the BBB or the Culver City Line going West or East on Century Boulevard.

Waiting for the hourly FlyAway would more than erase the speed advantage over the existing, more frequent BBB 3/3R and CC 6/6R. It’s the old (experienced) transit rider adage of “the the first bus that shows up.” The Phantom has frequently beat the 720 on Wilshire by simply taking the Local 20.